Utrecht City Color Palette

The Dutch city Utrecht is one of the most beautiful places in the world, and a beacon of art and education, housing more than 21 universities and colleges and 400 art installations. With this package I transform street art found in Utrecht into color palettes which you can use for plots generated in R. Inspired by the {dutchmasters} package by EdwinTh

The Wall, Leidsche Rijn
The Wall, Leidsche Rijn. Photo from the Greetings from utrecht website

How To Install

devtools::install_github("cherjuliette/rcolorUtrecht")
library(rcolorUtrecht)


How To Use

diamonds %>% 
  filter(cut == c("Very Good", "Premium", "Ideal")) %>% 
  ggplot(aes(x = carat,
             y = price,
             color = cut)) +
  geom_point(aes(size = cut,
                 alpha = 0.5)) +
  facet_wrap(~cut) +
  theme_bw()+
  scale_color_rcolorUtrecht(palette = "miffy")


Palettes

Graph code found in ./www/examples.Rmd


De Wonderen/The Wonders (2014) by Germa Borst De Wonderen/The Wonders (2014) by Germa Borst This mural was painted by Germa Borst. It was commissioned by the inhabitant of the house and subsidized by the City of Utrecht. In the neighborhood where the house stands the family Engelen (translated Angels) used to live, and there was a nunnery named Bethlehem. Both the family as well as the nunnery devoted their lives to helping those around them. Enchanted with the neighborhood, Germa got in touch with Boukje Lootsma, who at the time wrote modern day fairy tales. They both wanted to immortalize and commemorate the local history by means of murals and history based fairy tales. This particular painting takes place in the 16th century and tells the story of the women living in the nunnery that have visions of wonders which they convey to Papal State. One of the nuns is different and part of her special story is depicted here.
Photo from muurschilderingen Plus website


Train Station from the Past by De Verfdokter. Paintings like these are often commissioned by the city and while trains like these aren’t in use anymore, they often drive through meadows.
Photo from the website of De Verfdokter


Verhalen uit de Dichterswijk/Stories from the Dichterswijk by Munir de Vries.

A neighborhood is more than buildings and shops. It is the home of a large number of different people who all carry a different story with them. A perfect example is Ed, a boatman who tells stories of the city’s topography, and Mr. Braam who allowed his neighbor to pick leaves from his grape tree, only to have him show up the next day sharing in the meal which he made with the leaves. The translated name of the neighborhood is Poet District which seems more than fitting.
Photo from website of Munir de Vries


Nijntje/Miffy is probably the far the most popular thing that came out of Utrecht. This sculpture made by De Strakke Hand however the city also has a shop dedicated to Miffy items and a Miffy museum.
Photo from the De Strakke Hand website


Derk by Derk Wessels and Jan is De Man.
Photo from the funda website


De Walvis/The Wale by Studio KCA. Officially known as The Skyscraper, this piece of art was made in 2018 as an initiative of Utrecht University’s Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance. It shows a wale, entirely made of plastic found in the Pacific Ocean, jumping out of the water in front of the train station. The city is often in discussion about sustainability and has also started growing plants above bus shelters and was pronounced the most sustainable city in the country. In 2019 however the wale was dissasembled and shiped to Singapore.
Photo from website hetkanWEL


Glimpse Into The Past at the Ibis Hotel at Bizetlaan by De Strakke Hand. The painting above the Ibis Hotel shows a person peaking behind the curtains to see how the city looked in the past. A man on a horse is crossing the bridge, likely going to his house while several people are crossing the stream by boat. This painting also shows a role of maritime travel in Dutch history.
Photo from the newspaper website AD


De Gansstraat by De Strakke Hand. Translated the name of this street is The Geese street which is why a mural of geese was painted.
Photo from the Oud Utrecht site


3D streetart by Leon Keer.
Photo from the droomplekken website


Ducdalf met Schepen/Ships with Ducdalf (1978). by Anne P. Boer. In the Adelaarsstraat (translated Eagle street) stands the oldest street art in the city! Just as the mural at the Ibis Hotel shows, maritime traffic has contributed greatly to Dutch history and has extended itself today to water research at several institutes and universities.
Photo from Open Art Utrecht website


Vogelebuurt by Jan is De Man. Birds play a large part in the city and many streets are named after a particular bird kind. Translated the name of the neighborhood is Bird Neighborhood and the artist paid homage to this by painting a bird flying to its bird house.
Photo from website travellust


Mural above the grocery shop by Jan is De Man. Commissioned by one of the largest grocery shops in the country, the Albert Heijn (AH), a number of fruits and vegetables have been painted above the shop.
Photo from the Oud Utrecht website


Electricity boxes in the city center by patatjes4life. Initiative of the city ambassador group Thirty030, electrical boxes in the city were painted to make them more cheerful.
Photo from the thirty030 website


Faseconstractmicroscoop/Phase Constract Microscope of Dr. Bleeker by De Strakke Hand. This is a wall mural of physicist Caroline Bleeker, an alumni of the Utrecht University. During her time she was one of the only women to pursui a STEM career and eventuelly started her own company where she hired only women and produced phase contrast microscopes.
Photo from the street art cities website


Utrecht University at the Domplein. The University Hall stands in the city center, behind the Dom Church. During the Spanish Occupation of the Netherlands the auditorium was build and served as a meeting location for district representatives. In an uprising against the occupation, the Union of Utrecht was signed which declared the country independence.
Photo from youtube tumbnail


University of Applied Sciences. Also known as the HU, this college is known for encouraging students to participate in school decisions by hosting union elections to student inviting news anchors to speak on the national elections. In 2021 the college painted a rainbow crosswalk in front of the school, which now is the largest in the world!
Photo from the duic website

Future Improvements

  • Increase title size in the graphs
  • Change color order

Disclaimer

If you have found any errors in the package please inform me.